The writer of the film had 4 attempts of writing the film until he finally felt that what he had wrote was good enough. He found that the key to the film was a child because he believes that children are more open than what adults are, and so he when he was writing the script he wrote it as he was the boy in the film. The theme of the movie is communication, without it the film would be a fail. We know one main communication example is the spirits talking to Cole trying to contact him, this is a great example of communication, and shows how anyone can communicate. We see that in the film, dead people on see what they want to seem until 'reality' hits them and they reilise they are dead. The plot of the film is Dr. Malcolm Crowe, is a child psychologist, returns home one night with his wife, Anna Crowe, from an award evening where he was awarded for his work. She says that everything in the world is second to his job including her. They both soon discover they are not alone; a young man appears with a gun. He says that he doesn't want to be afraid anymore and accuses Malcolm of failing him. Malcolm recognizes him as Vincent Grey, an old patient who he treated as a child for hallucinations. The man shoots Malcolm and a few seconds later takes his own life.
Then next, Malcolm begins working with another boy, nine year-old Cole Sear, who has a condition similar to Vincent's. Malcolm becomes dedicated to this patient, though he has many doubts over his ability to help him after his failure with his last patient, Malcolm is determined not to fail Cole. Meanwhile, his relationship with his wife begins to fall apart due to his focus on work.
Once Malcolm earns his trust, Cole eventually confides in him that he "sees dead people that walk around like regular people." Though at first Malcolm thinks Cole is delusional, he eventually comes to believe that Cole is telling the truth and that Vincent may have had the same ability. He suggests to Cole that he try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts, perhaps to aid them in their unfinished business on Earth. Cole at first does not want to, because the ghosts terrify him, but he soon decides to try it. One is an overworked wife abused by her husband who slit her wrists; another that tries to hurt Cole is only heard as a voice who starts calmly pleading to Cole to let him out of the dark cupboard because he's suffocating, then yells at Cole that he didn't steal "the Master's horse" and threatens to attack Cole if he doesn't obey. The third ghost appears very briefly; a boy a bit older than Cole asks him to come into the room, to find the boy's father's gun. The boy turns around to show that he has a large gunshot exit wound on the back of his head.
Cole finally talks to one of the ghosts, a very sick girl who appears in his bedroom. He finds out where the girl, Kyra Collins, lived and goes to her house during her funeral reception. Kyra died after a prolonged illness and funeral guests note that Kyra's younger sister is starting to get sick, too. Kyra's ghost appears and gives Cole a box, which is opened to reveal a videotape. When Cole gives it to Kyra's father, the videotape shows Kyra's mother putting floor cleaner fluid in Kyra's food while she cared for Kyra during her illness.
Cole confesses his secret to his mother, Lynn. Although his mother at first does not believe him, Cole soon tells Lynn that her own mother once went to see her perform in a dance recital one night when she was a child, and that Lynn was not aware of this because her mother stayed in the back of the audience where she could not be seen. He also tells her the answer to a question she asked when alone at her mother's grave. Lynn tearfully accepts this as the truth. Cole also counsels Malcolm on his marriage, suggesting he try talking to his wife while she is asleep.
Malcolm returns to his home, where he finds his wife asleep on the couch with the couple's wedding video on in the background, not for the first time. As she sleeps, Anna's hand releases Malcolm's wedding ring (which he suddenly discovers he has not been wearing), revealing the twist ending of the film. The truth is, Malcolm himself was actually killed by Vincent and was unknowingly dead the entire time he was working with Cole. Due to Cole's efforts, Malcolm's unfinished business—rectifying his failure to understand Vincent—is finally complete. Recalling Cole's advice, Malcolm speaks to his sleeping wife and fulfills the second reason he returned, saying she was "never second," and that he loves her. Releasing her to move on with her own life, he is free to leave behind the world of the living.The genre of the film is a phycological thriller. You can tell this because it has some scary elements, which gives us the thriller part, but in order to understand it you have to watch the film twice, this is the phycological side of the film. The film starts at the beginning and finishes at the end, it doesn't really play around with time that much, only through the way Ghosts come back to the living world and they don't know they're dead. The colour red runs through the film alot, this is used as a narrative devise. It is used to represent emotions, but mainly we see the red when its time for a ghost to appear. This shows a slight or maybe even strong connection with the living world, and the spirit world, and how Cole can keep that connection.
Some special effects that are used in the film are point of view shots, a perfect example for this is in the school when Cole and Malcolm meet. We see both of them in front of us, we have a shot of Cole's face, then the empty space hes looking at, with 4 dead bodies hanging on top of the stairs, then we have the same shot of Malcolm, only when he looks at the stairs, he see's nothing. With this film the first time watching it is very confusing, because you dont find out what is really happening until the end, therefore when you watch it a second time you get a completely different reading of the film, you can understand it more, and have the ability to question what is going on in a different manor.
Bruce Willis had been in many films before the sixth sense, his most famous one being Die Hard. This film is automatically linked with Bruce Willis and gave him a great name that he has today. Haley Joel Osment (Cole) has also starred in Forrest Gump, Play It Forward and A.I. And Toni Collette has starred in Sportswood, Mirels Wedding, Shaft, Changing Lanes, In her Shoes, Little Miss Sunshine and About A Boy.
The director M. Night Shyamanla had already made Praying with anger and Wide Awake. The target audience of The Sixth Sense audience were young adults who could not only understand the film, but enjoy it too. The film got a certificate of 15.
When marketing the film there were trailers and posters, they were shown on tv, in magazines, in papers, on side of busses and on bilboards. This was a great way of marketing the film and getting it well known through a wide spread audiance. This way it would become more reconised and more people would want to watch it, and go and watch it.
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